Archive for the ‘Chris McGaw’ tag

Bloomberg reported Friday that a 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO sold sometime in the latter half of May for a verified $35 million, and unlike most of these stories, there’s a buyer and a seller’s name associated with it. The buyer is reportedly telecoms billionaire Craig McCaw, who with his younger brother, Bruce, has had as many as 400 cars, and is thought to have spent well over $100 million on new acquisitions for the last 20 years.

Over the last decade, though, the McCaws have been selling off much of their collection to concentrate on a smaller number of truly extraordinary cars, such as the 1952 Le Mans-winning Mercedes-Benz 300 SL, which they recently showed at Amelia Island.

Now that car will reportedly be joined at their $20 million Washington state castle by an ex-Le Mans (sort of) 1962 250 GTO, 3505GT. According to Barchetta.cc’s Ferrari registry, the car was up until recently owned by Eric Heerema, who bought it about 10 years ago from Yoshisho Matsuda for about $8.5 million. Heerema actually used it quite a bit and was a regular sight at Goodwood, before commissioning a restoration completed in 2010. Originally sold to Stirling Moss, 3505GT was never raced by Moss, but instead entered in the 1962 24 Hours of Le Mans by Innes Ireland and Masten Gregory. A failed alternator put Ireland and Gregory out of the race, but Ireland later won at Goodwood to take that year’s Tourist Trophy.

As Bloomberg noted, there’s been a flurry of near-record prices paid for Ferraris in recent weeks. Ferrari 250 GTOs in particular have topped the list, with 5095GT reportedly selling for $32 million, 3943GT reportedly selling for $26 million, and 4675GT reportedly selling for $19 million. Ferrari 250 Testa Rossas have also been selling well: Aside from the sale of 0666TR, which set a record for highest price paid for any car at auction last year at $16.39 million, 0728TR has reportedly sold for $24 to $25 million. This sale firmly cements the going price for a raced GTO in the $32-$35 million range, where the only other contenders are Bugatti Atlantics (Peter Mullins’s Type 57SC Atlantic was reportedly bought for between $30 million and $35 million), although it’s been a while since we heard about a Royale trading hands.